Arthur Scanlan (1907-1994)

Arthur Brian Scanlan (known as Brian) was born in New Plymouth and attended New Plymouth Boys' High School and Whanganui Collegiate. He began work as a cadet reporter at the Taranaki Herald in 1926 and was promoted to editor in 1937. He retired in 1964 after being managing editor since 1941.

Scanlan was a member of the ENP Board's North Committee from 1954 to 1960, a New Plymouth City Councillor from 1965 to 1971, Taranaki Alpine Club President from 1959 to 1960 and the Alpine Club's patron from 1964 to 1980.

Brian was also deeply interested in the history and development of Pukekura and Brooklands Parks.

Brian's books on Taranaki history:

Mountain of Maoriland, Thomas Avery & Sons (1949)

Pukekura Park and Brooklands, Avery Press (1950 & 1955)

Mt Egmont Handbook, Taranaki Herald (1955) - editor 

Egmont, The Story of a Mountain, Reed (1961)

Egmont National Park, ENP Board (1964) - editor 

100 Years of Firefighting, New Plymouth Fire Board (1966)

Hospital on the Hill, Taranaki Hospital Board (1967)

Historic New Plymouth, Reed (1968)

Egmont National Park, ENP Board (1970) - editor 

Harbour at the Sugar Loaves: A Centennial History, Taranaki Harbours Board (1975)

[updated and re-titled Port Taranaki-115 years of Elected Control (1991)]

Pukekura: A Centennial History, New Plymouth City Council (1978)

Taranaki’s First Railway, Published by the Author (1978)

Taranaki People and Places, Published by the Author (1985)

Taranaki’s First Railway: Centennial Edition, Friends of Puke Ariki (2007)

"A.B. (Brian) Scanlan" by Carol Wischnowsky

The following was told to me by his widow, Anna Scanlan, when I visited her in her Holsworthy Road home in 1998. Anna was also a reporter with Taranaki Newspapers.

Brian was a champion lightweight boxer. He held the position of Editor of the Taranaki Herald for 28 years, (1937-1965) He was also on the Park (Egmont) Board for many years. Brian’s love of nature can be attributed to a teacher in the Primers at Central School who used to take the children for walks, getting them to observe and talk about what they saw – she had a lasting influence on his life, giving him a great love of the outdoors. He attended New Plymouth Boys High School for a short time, having his lessons at the racecourse after a fire at the school. Then he went to Whanganui Collegiate as a boarder. While there, he got the news that his 20 year-old brother, James, had fallen to his death off Paritutu Rock. Brian was very close to his brother and it was a terrible shock to him. The school masters put him on a train to travel back to New Plymouth on his own after hearing the news of his brother’s death. The family never got over the tragedy.

Brian loved climbing (especially Mt Egmont) and even climbed the Matterhorn in Switzerland, though he used to say the more he travelled, the more he loved New Plymouth.

Anna says one of his proud achievements was fighting to get a fence pulled down in Victoria Road which obscured vision towards the park. Once the eyesore fence was removed and the area planted, it afforded a much improved outlook around the park area. (The Scanlan family house was the 2 storey house still standing on the corner of Victoria Road and Brooklands Road).  A walk has now been named after Brian in Pukekura Park.

He did so much anonymously. People would write to him or phone him about all sorts of things re Taranaki history and he would go to endless trouble to help them - he was somewhat of a walking encyclopaedia on Taranaki, the letters and phonecalls even went on for some time after he died.

For so long Brian played a large part in New Plymouth’s day-to-day life, especially with his editorials for the Taranaki Herald.  He was outspoken on many issues in New Plymouth through these editorials and consequently made some enemies, though he always had New Plymouth’s interests at heart. He was on a committee (or, as Anna states, he attended the meetings) regarding the proposed power station chimney. In Brian’s opinion, he didn’t think that the chimney was going to be high enough to handle the pollution. He would not vote in favour of the chimney, so a phone call was duly made to Wellington and agreement was sought to build the chimney higher!

Garth Gilmour says of his former boss at the Taranaki Herald, “He had three loves, his newspaper, New Plymouth and the mountain”. Garth also noted that Brian set a high standard so could be very tough on his journalists, especially when mistakes were made. He was even known to hurl things at staff in his impatience. However, he was fiercely loyal and supported them in their rights as reporters. Garth considers Brian the “best editor he ever worked for, and he worked for a bunch!” He was described by Stuart Hayton as “an eminent writer and well-known Taranaki  historian” in his forward to “Harbour at the Sugar Loaves” published in 1975.

“Brian would be forgotten now” says Anna sadly.